After a long, dusty journey, Lu Fumin arrived in Shanmei, Lingnan, from Tianshui, thousands of miles away, accompanied by three subordinates.
After getting off at the Urban Passenger Station, the four had barely stepped out of the entrance when several motorcycle drivers crowded around them.
"Where are you headed, fellow?"
"I know the city like the back of my hand. Ride with me and you won't be disappointed."
"I..."
Lu Fumin hurriedly declined. "No, thanks."
The four of them hailed a taxi.
"Here on business, sir?" the driver asked curiously as he drove.
Lu Fumin smiled. "That's right."
"Don't tell me you're here to inspect the Guizhuling recycling plant?"
"Oh? You've got a good eye."
The taxi driver flashed a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Ha ha, it's not that I've got a good eye. There have been a lot of government officials coming through these past few days. I've already taken two groups like you."
"That many?"
The taxi driver replied as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. "That's not many. Ever since that contract was signed in Hui City, a lot of places in Guangdong and Fujian provinces have come to visit. You're actually late."
Lu Fumin smiled wryly. "I came early, actually. It's just a long way."
"You sound like you're from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region. Don't tell me you really came all the way from the Greater Northwest!"
"Ha ha, we came from Tianshui."
They chatted along the way. Once they arrived at the hotel, Lu Fumin and the others, unwilling to waste time, asked the driver to take them straight to Guizhuling Industrial Park.
They arrived at the entrance to Guizhuling Industrial Park.
More than a dozen people were already registering and going through security at the entrance. From their accents, they seemed to be from the Northwest, too. After following them for more than ten minutes, Lu Fumin's group discovered they were from Chang'an City.
As soon as the two groups learned where the other was from, they teamed up and toured the factory together. To host the steady stream of visitors these days, the factory had put together a professional reception team.
After touring the waste recycling plant, they visited a wastewater treatment workshop that was partly open to visitors. There, they saw a steady flow of wastewater being purified into clean water.
Watching the water continuously flow into the drainage ditch and then on into the river, Lu Fumin felt a pang of regret. He had inspected two water treatment plants in Tianshui before, and their water quality was far worse than that of this pool.
He turned to the Chang'an delegation leader and said, "This technology could be used at water treatment plants. I just don't know how much it costs."
The leader, Pang Haoran, turned to the staff member accompanying them. "Xiao Zhang, does your company sell its wastewater treatment equipment?"
"That involves confidential information. Our company doesn't sell its equipment to outsiders. For now, we can only use it ourselves," Xiao Zhang replied with a genial smile.
At this, Pang Haoran, Lu Fumin, and the others were deeply disappointed.
Suiren Company used a bundled-sales approach for this business. It required clients to agree to contracts covering sanitation and water services before allowing the company to set up a local plant.
On the one hand, this allowed the company to build a steady stream of income. Selling equipment was a one-off deal, while setting up plants to sell water was a sustainable business, so the company naturally prioritized that.
After more than three hours of inspections, the Chang'an and Tianshui delegations headed to Suiren Company's headquarters.
Jiang Hailin, who had come from Hui City, was temporarily filling in for Lin Baijie. The two sides talked things over, but when it came to Suiren Company's requirements that it be allowed to take over sanitation services, water services, and enter the gas market, neither Pang Haoran nor Lu Fumin could make a decision. They could only take the cooperation proposals back to their respective cities.
Quite a few cities were struggling with the same problem.
While the country was still basking in the afterglow of the Olympics and swept up in a new wave of excitement over Suiren Company's innovative recycling plants,
the overseas world was dealt a devastating blow in September.
Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. The news instantly set off the subprime mortgage crisis, plunging financial markets around the world into chaos.
In the midst of his busy schedule, Huang Xiuyuan took some time to speak with Huang's International's managers in Xiangjiang. Having seized the opportunity, the company had made considerable gains over the past ten days.
Its funds in Xiangjiang now amounted to 736 million US dollars.
He immediately withdrew 500 million US dollars and sent it back to Suiren Company in China in several installments.
With this injection of funds, Suiren Company's cash reserves reached 5.2 billion yuan. And this was cash, not assets.
Many companies had market values of tens of billions, but that didn't mean they could produce 5.2 billion yuan in cash. This was especially true of those bloated internet companies. They'd be lucky if they weren't hundreds of millions in debt, let alone had 5.2 billion in cash.
Flush with cash, Suiren Company began an aggressive expansion.
For example, the newly established Hui City branch had used shares in its land and water service companies to secure a 300-million-yuan bank loan. The money would go toward investments in a waste recycling plant, a wastewater treatment plant, a water treatment plant, a liquefied gas storage station, a logistics warehouse, and employee dormitories.
September 18.
Huang Xiaojun of Veolia's China branch arrived with an inspection delegation.
Suiren Company knew quite a bit about this competitor. Its investment proposal for Pengcheng, after all, had an indirect conflict of interest with Veolia's.
Since Lin Baijie was still overseeing operations in Hui City, and Huang Xiuyuan had no interest in exchanging pleasantries with Veolia, Jiang Hailin had to step in.
Recently promoted to deputy general manager of the company, Jiang Hailin received the delegation at headquarters. After the usual round of mutual compliments, Huang Xiaojun cautiously asked,
"Our company thinks highly of your recycling technology and wastewater treatment technology. Would it be possible to take a look at how they work?"
"Guests are always welcome. Of course," Jiang Hailin replied with a cheerful smile, though he was wary of the other man.
Once they entered Guizhuling Industrial Park, Veolia's staff had their electronic devices confiscated, and only five people were allowed inside. Each was closely monitored by a staff member.
The factory's core areas had also been secured to protect confidential information. Unless Suiren Company chose to explain how things worked, it was virtually impossible to figure out the details.
The company's key technologies and operating costs were top secrets. Naturally, it couldn't share them with foreign firms.
After several hours of looking around, Huang Xiaojun had seen little beyond the surface. He had no idea what the operating costs were or what technologies made it all possible.
He had also tried probing Jiang Hailin, but all he got in return were vague answers. He didn't receive a single concrete figure.
Faced with this, Huang Xiaojun and his delegation could only feel helpless.
Suiren Company's technology seemed impressive, but operating costs were what mattered. Veolia could achieve the same level of recycling, but the costs would be prohibitively high.
If Suiren Company was bluffing, Veolia couldn't afford to take that risk. The subprime crisis had already hit it hard this year, forcing it to slow its expansion in China.
And judging by Jiang Hailin's attitude, Suiren Company was very cold toward Veolia.
Sure enough, when Huang Xiaojun proposed an acquisition or an equity investment, Jiang Hailin rejected him without hesitation, before he could even make a specific offer.
Jiang Hailin also rejected the final proposal for technical cooperation. As a senior executive at Suiren Company, he knew the company had plenty of technology of its own.
In his eyes, Veolia's technology was worthless junk. Suiren Company had no shortage of technology or funding, and it had the vast Chinese market and the backing of government partnerships. Jiang Hailin couldn't think of a single reason to cooperate with Veolia.
Disappointed, Huang Xiaojun realized that Jiang Hailin wouldn't be swayed. In the end, he had no choice but to give up and return with his team to the headquarters of Veolia's Beiping branch.
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